How to send a replay to a friend in Dota 2

Via Match ID — the simplest

1. Open Dota → Watch → Recent Games → find the game.
2. Click the game — at the top a Match ID appears (a 10-digit number).
3. Copy the ID, send it to your friend.
4. The friend opens Dota → Watch → Download Replay by ID → enters the ID → download.

Download speed: 1-2 minutes for a 45-minute game. The file is ~50 MB.

Via a direct .dem file

Replays are stored locally:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\game\dota\replays\

Find the file by match ID (the format 1234567890.dem) → upload it to Google Drive / Dropbox → send the link. The friend downloads it to their replays/ folder and opens it via Dota → Watch → Local Replays.

Analysis via Dotabuff and OpenDota

If the friend doesn't want to watch the whole game:

• Dotabuff.com — enter the Match ID → see each player's stats, the gold/xp graph, the damage chart.
• OpenDota.com — the same + advanced stats: ward score, neutral kills, lane efficiency.
• STRATZ.com — heat-maps of positions and map movement.

Highlights and clips

For top moments it's better to use the built-in Highlight in Dota 2:

1. In the replay find the moment → press space.
2. Choose Create Highlight → the editor opens.
3. Choose a duration of 10-30 sec → export as a video file (mp4).
4. Send the file via Discord / Telegram.

Scripts in replays

Dota 2 replays show only server-side actions. Client-side scripts (Umbrella combo, last-hit) are not displayed — the friend sees only the final action (a cast / an attack). This is normal and won't raise questions.